Tuesday, October 28, 2014

The bank holiday saw the Marathon and the introduction of Winter time (Clocks went back)

I met a guy at the Westbury hotel.
Born in Crumlin he went to England when he was 9 with his parents and when he was 20 he started working on the roofing game.
Then he bent a piece of metal and took a patent on it.
He showed it around and there was not much interest in it.
Then after demonstrating its use it took off.

Then he said I invented a method of repairing a broken slate.

But when I tried to sell it they said Its OK but what we really need is a method.of fixing solar panels to roofs.

So I bent another piece of metal,I have 2 factories working flat out.

They call me Stupid Paddy,
I don't mind.
I never did it for the money ,its for my kids and grandchildren I hope they enjoy it.

A guy raced in front of me to cut me off the other day and he was going so fast that he missed a job which took me to Heuston station. As he jumped out a German girl jumped in going to Portabello.
She had come to Ireland a few years ago as an Au-pair in the west of Ireland
She was singing the praises of Ireland and the Irish people.
She had a beautiful tone to her voice and she told me that when she was 14 she won a big singing competition in Germany, this gave her a recording contract to a top record label.
But she did not want that to be her life.
Then she let me see a clip of her singing at a concert for Amnesty International.
She was really professional in the way she moved.

Anyhow Portabello came and we parted company.

It was a good job that the other guy cut me off or all that would not have happened.

A while ago a Mr.Mr.Yemi Moshood Olatunde appeared in the news he had been living here and driving a taxi for almost 8 years. He has been deported to Italy on an international arrest warrant for his involvement in a multimillion drug trafficking operation in Naples in 2001 click here

I have lived here in Ireland almost all my life. When I wanted to apply for a taxi license I had to wait for a good while for them to check to see if I had a criminal record.

In Spain for example you have to have lived there for 6 or 8 years, be able to speak Spanish fluently and know your locality before you apply to drive a taxi.

There is also something very wrong when the National Transport Authority tells you that your PPS number is incorrect, your records stand there for more20 years and even though you furnish them with 5 proofs and a letter from the inspector of taxes to back up your claim they do nothing.

They only relented when I threatened to take legal action for loss of earnings.

Saturday, October 18, 2014

Did you ever see anything like this? Three saucepans for one ring
Ebay here I come.

The Christmas cactus is starting to bloom. This plant never bloomed for 60 years before we got it.

Well after many many phone calls I got a date to put me back on the road.

Hopefully.

My social security is (for example) 123456 P The National Transport Authority said they had a different number.
"What number do you have?" Couldn't tell me.
So I rang revenue No the number you gave is your number.
Later on I rang back and asked if there was any other number on my file and they said there is 828282W which refers to a VRT payment on a car 8 years ago.But that is not your number.
So again I rang back NTA, spoke to a supervisor and they told me that this was "under investigation" and nothing could be done until their investigations were complete.
I sent 5 proofs of my PPS number, payment receipts, P45s and a letter directly from revenue.

"We can do nothing until our investigations are complete"

I spoke to Revenue on Friday morning and the lady I spoke to said that there was one person in the office who could change the tax file..It turned out that the 828282W number did not exist.

I got a phone call around 3 pm.
"Problem solved, go ahead"
No explanation, but they did apologize.

If you are a taxi driver you will hear horror stories about taxi rides from hell.

A woman told me about a driver taking her to Ballyboden when she wanted to go to Ballybough.
She jumped out of his taxi and into one behind at the lights. The second driver called the police, but the rogue driver had driven away. In spite of having reg numbers etc passed on they heard nothing. The lady told me that the other driver drove her home for no charge.
"We're not all like that" he told the lady.

A second was 3 girls leaving a club on Harcourt St. going to Coolock The driver headed south instead of North. He insisted that the way to Coolock was along the M50.
When she asked him to stop he told her that he would beat her until she cried like a baby unless she shut up.
She is a clever girl and made a phone call to a friend of hers in Irish. She explained the situation and as luck her friend was on duty (a Garda)
Give me a missed call at Cadburys.
Long story short he tried to punch the Garda but didn't see the other 2 Garda standing behind her.
He was arrested, no license, all the car details were forged.
They impounded the car and he was allowed out.
A few days later a guy turned up in Coolock Garda station."You found my car which was stolen "
In spite of the fact that the car had not been reported stolen, or that they had not contacted him, so how did he know that the car was there?
He got the car back.

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

I am typing with one hand and holding the the phone with the other hand.
The subject of my call is the National Transport Authority.
I even went out to the test center this morning and was told it was not their department.
So I went to to the HQ and was told at reception that the people upstairs do not check that kind of thing and they do not have the computers to deal with it anyhow.

So back to the phone.

My call ended in 16.4 minutes with the news that "The matter is under investigation"

It is a well known fact that we are all only ever 2 weeks from poverty.

Think about this, your income stops?.

How long would you last?

So today I did something to try and help my situation. I wrote to a politician !
You will never know if it will do some good.

I was heading up the M1 a few times over the last few days. A red car cut in front of me and weaved his way past me and through the traffic ahead. He had hijacked the car at Malahide golf club and he crashed in Donabate putting a woman and her 3 year old son into hospital. The driver of the stolen car is critical.
He had been in prison and the last time he was caught he told the judge that he had learned his lesson and would never get behind the wheel of a car again. So he was let off..
Just to add a bit of heat to my argument he had 75 previous convictions "Well Judge what would you like to say to the people in hospital?"In America the justice system is very strict on repeat offenders.3 strikes and you're out (In jail for life)
One thing to say about people weaving around in traffic is stay well back and let them at it.

Yesterday I followed a guy for around 5 miles, he had no lights on.
But when I overtook him I noticed that his headlights were on.
Its the new thing. Day lights on cars, the driver thinks the lights are on.
My old Prius had automatic lights which was great.

I walked past a guy today who was selling his book Tight bastards guide to life click here

Saturday, October 11, 2014

I was at this pole one day and a guy reversed over the first step,bounced up the other step and hit the lamp

If this door in Modica could talk..

Thank God I am not starting over again.

I gave my old car over to a friend whose car had broken down while I was in the process of getting a new one.

I saw a great car in London and bought an air ticket and Sterling to pay for it.
Before I flew off I rang my insurance company to tell them and was told by them that they would not give me cover to drive it home !
So I had a day in London and came home by boat.

(The insurance company told me later that this information was incorrect)

I did housework and looked on the net.
Then I was at a wedding in the midlands and saw a Prius advertised.
I bought it and the next day I rang to have insurance cover on the car to bring it up and have the meter put in and made ready for a taxi.
Then I was told by the insurance company that they couldn't do that either.
But if the car was registered in somebody else's name I could drive it on my insurance.
Therefore I asked the garage to register the car in my sons name.
So I brought the car home and had the meter fitted, then I rang the NCT people,expecting to get a date 2 or 3 days later.
I think the date for testing was 5 weeks away. "No there is nothing sooner"
A few days later the the notification was on my phone and the first words were
"Please bring your drivers license and the car must be registered in your name.".
Time enough to change this so I sent the tax book back to Shannon with instructions to put the car back into my own name and I worked at home and then went off to sunny Sicily for a break.
Its a great place for sure.

Then I came home and there is the motor tax letter with my name spelled wrong. I had a full 8 days to go so I typed a cover letter saying how this was urgent and sent it off..
No It didn't come back in time but they did test the car.

Next to get the "suitability test" You need to bring in the old green stickers from the old car.
I had shredded them as there was nothing written on them to sat that they must be retained.
Pay €50 for a duplicate set so that we can destroy them and issue new ones.
So I have to pay €50 for another set to be destroyed I said, so you can issue new ones "Correct"

Then I answered questions and when it came to my PPS number they stopped me.
That is not your correct PPS number.
I was back on to them and then to the Revenue who agreed with me.
But it is a BIG NO from the National Transport Authority.
I photocopied 6 tax documents showing correct number.
Still nothing back from them.

I have not worked in the taxi for more than 6 weeks.

The National Transport Authority tells me that they cannot speak to the Revenue as it would be against the freedom of information act !

Tonight in Dublin I guarantee you there are more than 800 illegal taxi drivers working without fear of detection or prosecution. Some unions have placed the number at over 1,000
A woman told me that she arrived at Dublin Airport and the driver didn't know where the city center was.
So she directed him to show the way.
Isn't that just dandy.

I hope that anyone injured, raped or killed in an illegal taxi manages to sue the National Transport Authority, perhaps this might loosen up this bullshit.

Just to say it is not any individual that is to blame.
The entire system is flawed and the staff are working on short term contracts so they never get a handle on the job. Plus there is no accountability.

I got a call from someone purporting to be a reporter from
the Sunday World who said there is an article appearing tomorrow
exposing a driver who has been removed from the road thirteen times and
still continues to operate as a taxi without licence insurance or valid
plate.
Might be worth a read?

Monday, October 06, 2014

Could it just be me? Its a bit early for Christmas.
Couldn't loads of goods be bought and sold on this floorspace in the next 2 months ?

Two famous doors of Dublin one in Merrion Sq. the other is Trinity College some nutcase aged 66 drove a car into the Trinity doors causing thousands of euro in damage..

Well I am still grounded, I passed the NCT and went to do the next stage.
Among the things he told me was that I had to bring in the green discs from the old car.
I told him that I shredded them and that if they were to be brought back they should have printed a notice to that effect on the back of the disc.
I may have this wrong but it seemed to me that he said that I have to pay to have them replaced so that they can be destroyed..
"After all how do we know that the old car is not still being used as a taxi?"

I was tempted to ask him that if he stopped the illegal taxis driving away from checkpoints he would do more good rather than stop a legal tax paying and insured driver from working.
But I wouldn't say that.

Now today after 3 phone calls and an email to the transport people a TP2 form was issued and signed.
So I rang them back again to book the suitability test.

Guess what?

Now they tell me my income tax number is incorrect !

A few years ago they had the wrong number and it was corrected at the time but not it seems in their records.

No No they will not accept my tax documents as proof, or my sworn oath.

I am sure there has to be a play there somewhere.

How the big machine that eats more and more paper causes the servants to look for another ruler.